Ryan Lochte & Conor Dwyer

CONOR JAMES DWYER

Conor James Dwyer is an American swimmer who was born in Evanston, Illinois on January 10^th 1989 and according to him, since then he has been such an excellent golfer and who knows what other talents he has been gifted with. But before start talking about his talents let’s go back to his childhood.

Our dear Conor grew up in Winnetka in a seven members’ family. Patrick, his father; Jeanne, his mother; Spencer, his twin brother; Brenden, PJ and Pati, his younger siblings. But is worth to mention that he has a huge family that always have been by his side, supporting him on every step he takes.

And talking about his family, they are very charitable people who like to help different foundations, such as The Big Shoulders Fund, Cristo Rey Jesuit High School, Junior Achievement of Chicago, Maryville Academy, Misericordia (Conor and his mom are part of the misericordia family) to name just a few.

That’s why Conor is so generous. Here you have another reason to love him even more.

Conor attended Loyola Academy, a catholic high school in Wilmette, Illinois, where many members of his family have studied.

Ok now it’s time to talk about Conor’s swimming career, and we are sure you all know this is our favorite part.

Conor started swimming when he was just 2 years old (if you were part of his first and apparently last Q+A session, probably you already knew that) and at the age of seven, his mom Jeanne Dwyer (an all American swimmer for the Florida State) became his first coach, and at 10 he was a state champ, so as you can read, he always has been so talented in the pool. Maybe some of you didn’t know it, but he is also a great water polo player.

But Conor’s skills does not end here, because in high school he used to play hockey, baseball, lacrosse and basketball, and basketball is not a surprise because he is very close friend of the Jordans. Yes! As you just read, Michael Jordan probably watched him playing several times at his own house (we have to mention the Jordan family had a hoop at their house that was better than you’d see at most colleges). Unfortunately Conor didn’t grow up on time so he made up for swimming and we really appreciate that. Maybe height was a little problem in high school but not anymore, because our dear Conor now is 6ft 5.

Marcus Jordan & Conor Dwyer

Conor first attended the University of Iowa and then he transferred to the University of Florida, this was possible with a little help from Olympic swimmer Janet Evans, who contacted head coach of UF, Gregg Troy. After a while, Gregg accepted Conor as a member of the Gator Swim Club.

Being part of the gator swim team, Conor competed at the NCAA National Championship, in the 200-yard and 500-yard freestyle and it’s worth to mention he was honored as the NCAA swimmer of the year in 2010 and 2011.

What a great start of his swimming career and his road to the upcoming Olympic Games in London 2012.

Conor graduated from the University of Florida with a bachelor’s degree in Sports Management in 2011, just like his teammate and partner-in-speedo crime Ryan Lochte, who also graduated with bachelor’s degree in Sports Management a few years earlier (2007).

Next stop on Conor’s swimming career were the 2010 ConocoPhillips United States National Championships in Irvine, California, where he qualified for the U.S. national team in the 4x200 meter freestyle relay.

At the 2011 World Aquatics Championship in Shanghai, Conor only swam in the heats of the 4x200 meter freestyle relay and that’s why he got a gold medal but something bigger was waiting for him.

In the same year but now at the ConocoPhillips United States National Championship in Palo Alto, California; Conor placed 1^st in the 200m Individual Medley and 2^nd in the 400m IM, so he got his ticket to the 2011 Pan American Games held in Guadalajara, yes! Conor visited our country, so sorry we couldn’t be there (thanks again school).

At the Pan American Games he did an extraordinary job winning 4 medals: 3 silver in the 200m IM, 400m IM and the 4x100m freestyle relay. And 1 gold in the 4x200m freestyle relay.

After a successful performance in the Pan American Games, it came the Olympic year and it was time for the Olympic trials. Where Conor did it again; later on a lot of hard work next to Ryan Lochte and their coach Gregg Troy at the UF (Go Gators!); Conor received his reward: compete for the US National Swimming team in the 400m freestyle and the 4x200m freestyle relay.

In London Conor did an outstanding job again, finishing 5^th in the 400m freestyle, so good for his first individual race and then he made history. As all of you remember Conor won his first Olympic gold medal in the 4x200m freestyle relay next to Michael Phelps, Ryan Lochte and Ricky Berens.

Conor has said that being on the podium was one of the best moments of his life so far, but we’re sure more moments like this one will come for Conor in Río 2016.

In such an amazing moment nothing better than the family support. And of course all the Dwyers were in London cheering on Conor. About 40 members of the Dwyer and Dowdle family traveled to London just to see and support Conor. They even wore personalized clothes, T-shirts, pants, glasses, etc. everything with “Dwyer” printed in it. We bet everybody in London noticed the Dwyers haha.

After the 2012 Olympic Games, Conor enjoyed being a celebrity. Interviews, fashion shows, Hollywood premieres, red carpets, photoshoots… everything because of his successful performance in London and… let’s be honest his pretty face helped. Conor looked flawless in every event he attended to. He definitely knows how to rock designer clothing, especially those great suits.

He even has his own day in Winnetka, Illinois, on August 25^th. OMG! We’re so proud of him, not lots of people can say they have his own day.

In the 2012 Golden Goggles Conor, besides of the glorious Calvin Klein suit he was wearing, he seemed to us the sweetest guy on earth, because his date for that night was his little sister Pati, definitely Conor is so cute.

After all the time as a celebrity, it was time to go back to train and get ready for another big step on his swimming career: 2012 Short Course World Championships held in Istanbul, Turkey. But before heading to Istanbul, Conor and Ryan’s flight was cancelled so they had to wait another day to be able to flight to Istanbul.

At Istanbul Conor, Ryan, Coach Jack and the rest of the USA Swimming team visited some famous places like the Blue Mosque.

After that, it was time to race and Conor did a great job AGAIN. He won his first individual medal in World Championships. That time was a bronze medal in the 200m freestyle but who knows how many medals are coming for Conor in the future (for instance Barcelona). He also won a gold medal in the 4x200m freestyle relay next to Ryan Lochte, Matt McLean and Michael Klueh.

It seems like it was yesterday when we woke up every day at 2am just to watch Conor and Ryan's races, we're a little bit crazy but everything worth it. And most probably we’ll be in the same situation for the World Championships in Barcelona. So don’t miss our updates on Twitter and Facebook.

As you could read, 2012 was such a great year for Conor and the best way to say goodbye to 2012 was with his family. Conor spent Christmas in Chicago and welcomed 2013 in the beach house in Tampa, Florida.

We think he had a great time with his family and for great time we mean he ate a lot, because when he trained with the US Air Force he was out of formation. And we don't judge him because who doesn't eat too much on Christmas holidays?

A date we don't like to remember is Conor's birthday (January 10th) because we worked so hard for about a week to prepare a Happy Birthday video for Conor but he didn't even see it. It was a 3-minute-video that we posted on YouTube, Facebook and Telly but that wasn't enough for Conor to watch it.

We're mad with him for that but let's move on.

In the same day Conor went to the Cayman Islands for a swimming clinic. Showing us he worries about the new generations of swimmers.

Then, it was time to swim again and the first swim meet of the year was the Austin Grand Prix, followed by Orlando, Mesa and Charlotte. All of them were a good opportunity to meet lots of fans and hang out with other swimmers. And the best part of those meets was to see Conor in action, doing what he does the best and also to see him wearing those glorious tiny speedos haha! Just kidding.

Between meets, Conor continued enjoying his celebrity life. He attended some events such as ULTRA, EDC, he even was invited to the 2013 Chicago St. Patrick's day Parade as the Guest of Honor. And that day we found out Conor looks so great in green haha.

One Sunday we were studying for an important exam (We hate exams at University because they always ruin everything) and suddenly we saw a tweet of Conor saying he was in Los Cabos. We couldn't believe Conor was in Mexico again!! We were so excited because it was a great opportunity to

meet Conor. We almost packed and take the first flight to Los Cabos (beautiful place by the way). But then, we remembered we had a long week at school full of exams. So again we couldn't go to Los Cabos and meet Conor. That's so sad. But we're sure someday our dream will come true and we'll meet him.

Continuing with the swim meets; after Charlotte Grand Prix, Conor was invited to the Olympic Training Center in Colorado, there he had the chance to be coached by Bob Bowman (Michael Phelps' coach) for 3 weeks. Definitely training with Bob Bowman and other Olympians helped Conor to improve his swimming.

We could see the result of that hard work at Santa Clara Grand Prix, where everybody commented about Conor's great performance. It was impossible not to talk about it because he even beat Nathan Adrian in the 100m freestyle prelims!! Imagine the big improvement.

We were so proud of him for all the amazing job in Santa Clara and in the others Grand Prix. Although, we missed seeing Conor wearing tiny speedos. And apparently we're gonna miss them for a while because Conor's next stop are the World Championship Trials and then the World Championships in Barcelona, those are official events so we won't see Conor wearing tiny speedos.

Talking about the World Championships Trials, it's known that Conor is training in Baltimore with Bob Bowman at least until World Championship Trials. But the fact that Conor changed his description on Twitter and according to that, he doesn't live in Gainesville, makes us think Conor will probably train with Bob Bowman in Baltimore for more time, and who knows, maybe permanently.